Wenonah on Thursday night chased Alabama football history on two fronts: the Birmingham school’s first state title, within reach at the Super 7, and a target just as elusive, maybe more – Beauregard running back La’Damian Webb.

On this night, Webb won — leading Beauregard to a 33-13 victory in the Class 5A championship game at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Wenonah’s defense, one of Alabama’s hardest-hitting this season, found keeping up with Webb daunting at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium. And despite several big plays on defense, Beauregard earned its first state title by beating Wenonah.

Webb finished with 51 carries for 359 yards and touchdown runs of 25, 6, 1, 1 and 40 yards, leading the Hornets (13-1) to their first AHSAA state football title.

Midway through the third quarter, Webb scored from 6 yards, becoming the AHSAA’s second-leading single-season rusher, behind only Jamarius Henderson of Dale County, who in 2014 ran for 3,483 yards.

Wenonah’s defense make a mark too, with two-way star Telvin Miller scoring on a 74-yard fumble return and later, Carlos Rogers finding Anthony Hudson for a 15-yard TD pass with 15 seconds left in the second quarter, giving Wenonah a 13-7 lead at halftime.

But Webb, listed at 5-foot-9, 190 pounds, proved to be as good as advertised. He bounced around and through Wenonah’s defense, oftentimes one leg tackle from a long score.

Did you know?: Webb moved into elite company with Thursday’s performance, becoming the fifth back in AHSAA history to surpass 3,000 yards rushing in a single season. Dale County’s Jamarius Henderson ran for 3,483 yards in 2014 to set the record. Others who surpassed 3,000 were Aliceville’s Kendal Gibson (3,083 in 2000), Lynn’s Lee Cagle (3,018 in 1996) and Blount’s Sherman Williams (3,004 in 1990).

He finishes with 3,242 yards, ranking as the second-best single-season total in AHSAA history.

Webb also finished 2016 with 47 rushing touchdowns, tying the AHSAA single-season record. He scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, sprinting into the end zone on his 40-yarder with 2:27 remaining.

— Coachspeak: “I’m proud of them. We did something (great) with (just) 37 kids… When you look at 5A and above programs, there’s not many teams coming here with those numbers.” — Wenonah coach Ronald Cheatham

“Coming in, we knew they had a strong defense, was going to make it difficult for us to run the football. And they did.” — Beauregard coach Rob Carter

“(My score on a fumble recovery), I think it definitely gave us a spark, ignited us a little bit. I feel like once I did that, we started playing better.” Wenonah running back/defensive back Telvin Miller

“I saw the middle of the field was open; just executed the play and it gave us a good boost before halftime. They just played a better second half than us.” Wenonah receiver Anthony Hudson Complete article